


Firefly, Season 1, Episode 9, Ariel

by TheSomewhatRamblingReviewer



Category: Firefly
Genre: Analysis, Episode Review, Episode: s01e09 Ariel, Meta, Nonfiction, Season/Series 01, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-22
Updated: 2020-06-22
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:21:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24858307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSomewhatRamblingReviewer/pseuds/TheSomewhatRamblingReviewer
Summary: Warning: Contains spoilers for the episode and the rest of the series. Complete.
Kudos: 3





	Firefly, Season 1, Episode 9, Ariel

Open to most of the crew hanging out in the dining room. Simon is trying to get River to eat, and Jayne isn’t helpful. Wash and Zoe come in, and Wash tries to convince Zoe to agree to spend some time on the core planet they’re dropping Inara on, Ariel.

Coming in, Mal says no one besides Inara is leaving the ship. In fact, they’re to avoid windows and talking loudly.

It’s established Book is at an abbey somewhere.

River eyes Jayne, and Wash expresses amazement Inara has to go through a day or two of medical testing just to renew her companion license. Jayne disturbs Simon’s attempts to eat by being his normal charmless self.

Grabbing a knife, River slashes Jayne, and in response, he hits her.

Most people seem to think Jayne’s hitting her was an automatic reflex to the pain, and if this were true, I agree it would be understandable. However, if this was intended, someone screwed up. He clearly collected himself, and then, made the decision to hit her.

Slashing someone with a knife is usually worse than hitting them, but the fact he isn’t severely injured combined with River’s insanity does provide an exception. A tall, muscular, neurotypical man deliberately hitting a short, petite, mentally disabled woman is appalling.

Later, an apologising Simon is stitching Jayne up, but Jayne insists to Mal something needs to be done about River.

Yes, but something also needs to be done with despicable scum who thinks it’s okay to hit girls.

Jayne also wants Simon thrown off, too.

I guess Kaylee’s life isn’t as important to Jayne as he tries to pretend it is.

Despite my loathing of him, he’s not wrong to be wary of River’s continuing presence, but Simon is perfectly sane. He’s a talented doctor. He’s been helpful in more than one mission. Here, Jayne isn’t acknowledging Simon won’t abandon River and saying the loss of Simon is acceptable if it means getting River off the ship, he’s actively campaigning to get Simon thrown off, too.

This said, Jayne isn’t wrong when he points out Kaylee or Inara, the most innocents of the sane, could end up badly hurt or worse if River’s condition continues to further deteriorate.

He storms off, and Mal orders Simon to keep River in her room and only let her out after receiving permission. Simon agrees, and Mal warns him, if River becomes uncontrollable, he’ll put the others above her.

One thing I like about the show is the fact there’s genuine complexity to the situation. Aside from Jayne, they all pity River and do want to help, but unlike Simon, they aren’t willing to risk everything. Several characters express wariness about her, and they aren’t wrong to do so. Leaving her and Simon somewhere would likely be akin to condemning the siblings to death, but if it gets to the point where keeping her around means there’s a real chance they could end up being stabbed in their sleep, they’ll likely do it. Not because they’re cruel (Jayne excluded) or because they deem her unworthy of help, but because there’s a line, and when it comes to life and death, she’s on the other side.

Later, the ship’s entering the planet, and Zoe and Wash are watching Jayne and Mal playing with horseshoes. Above them, Kaylee and Inara walk. Projecting, Kaylee suggests Inara will meet a nice, young doctor who will ask her out. Before leaving, Inara warns her to stay out of trouble.

Down below, Jayne complains about the lack of work they’ve been getting. He drops some wisdom his father imparted, namely, anyone who can’t find work isn’t looking hard enough.

Kaylee comes down, and appearing, Simon announces he wants to hire the crew. He educates the crew on how valuable the medicine in his medkit is. Then, he explains, if they get him and River into a diagnostic wing of an Arielian hospital containing an advanced, 3D brain scanner, he’ll tell them how to get in the hospital, what medicines are worth taking, and how to get out.

Kayle brings up the ethics of this, and Zoe says the government-run hospital would be restocked within a matter of hours. Showing this isn’t about money to him, Mal adds, “Folks on the rim sure could use it.”

Wash brings up the difficulty in breaking into such a facility.

Simon explains the plan over a montage. Kaylee and Wash get a medical vehicle from a scrap yard along with the parts to fix it, Jayne buys medical uniforms and the stuff to make fake badges with, and Simon trains Mal, Jayne, and Zoe with what to say when entering the hospital. Hilariously and realistically, the last one is the hardest part of the scam.

Once everything has been set up, Simon explains to River he’s going to inject himself and her with a drug to make them appear dead, and Zoe, Jayne, and Mal are going to walk their coffin gurneys in. River doesn’t like this plan, but Simon coaxes her into letting him inject her.

Summer Glau and Sean Maher have awesome familial chemistry.

In the medical transport vehicle, Mal tries to make sure there won’t be any problems between Jayne and Simon. Jayne admits Simon’s plan is a good one, and though, he doesn’t like Simon any better, he’s willing to put personal feelings aside as long as he gets his share of the money.

The medical trio takes the gurney coffins into the hospital, and rather than the interrogation they were prepared for, the disinterested woman who greets them at the door automatically directs them to the morgue. Jayne, however, insists on saying his line. Heh.

Once in the morgue, Mal injects the siblings with the revival medicine. Interestingly, he does it to River, first.

They’re supposed to wake up at about the same time, but I’d’ve thought he’d inject Simon first, in order to try to make sure, if one of them did wake up slightly earlier, it would be Simon. Jayne may not like Simon, but it’s better for everyone to have those two alone in a room together than Jayne and River.

After Mal and Zoe leave, so does Jayne. He connects to the police, and it’s established he’s planning to hand the Tams over for a reward. When he goes back to the morgue, River wakes up first, and referring to Judas, she inquires, “Copper for a kiss?”

It was thirty pieces of silver, but copper works better here since it’s both a metal and a term for police officers.

Jayne uneasily asks what she said, but before she can answer, Simon wakes up.

Meanwhile, Mal and Zoe are stopped by a doctor.

Back to the Tams plus Jayne, they push River in a wheelchair through the recovery room. During her babbling, she notes Simon should be working in such a hospital, and then, she declares a patient is about to die. Simon tries to reassure her until the patient starts to die. Leaving Jayne to restrain River, Simon strides over to the patient, and saving the person, he then chews out the patient’s doctor for making a rookie mistake with the medication.

River gives a beautiful smile of pride.

Elsewhere, Mal and Zoe knock out the doctor.

However, they do so in public. I’m not sure how realistic it is absolutely no one was nearby and noticed anything. Maybe he’s just a well-hated doctor, and everyone is going to be talking about these awesome paramedics who did what everyone else has always wanted to do.

Over to the sibling and Jayne, they enter the completely empty diagnostic lab.

Meanwhile, Zoe and Mal with the doctor in one of the coffin gurneys enter the place where the medicine’s stocked.

I’d think they’d have an on-duty pharmacist or guard at all times rather than just a security scanner, but okay.

In the diagnostic wing, Simon gets ready to start scanning River.

Back in the medicine room, the doctor is deposited on the floor, and Zoe and Mal start loading the medicines into the coffin gurneys. It turns out Mal has written the correct ones on his arm. Heh.

There’s a scene showing the 3D scan is suitably sci-fi.

Next is a scene of Mal and Zoe leaving with their coffin gurneys.

Meanwhile, Simon interacts with the 3D scan. He explains to Jayne what was done to River. Her amygdala was tampered with. This means she has no control over what she feels or how she deals with such intense emotions.

I give Adam Baldwin props for his talent. Jayne has occasional hints of goodness, but when it comes down to it, he’s a scumbag. Here, he does show subtle recognition of the fact what was done to River was wrong, but any sympathy he has, any hint of respect he has for Simon uncomplainingly giving everything up for his baby sister, isn’t going to get in the way. He’s already decided the Tams need to go, and he’s certainly not giving up his chance at making extra money just to do the right thing.

He informs Simon the plan’s changed and that they need to leave now. Simon isn’t happy he wasn’t told this as soon as he woke up.

Freaking out, River hurls veiled accusations of treason towards Jayne, and Jayne understands them, but Simon doesn’t.

Once they get outside, the federal marshals appear.

As the siblings are taken away, Jayne is arrested, too. He assumes this is just for appearances.

Wrong, and he’s not getting any reward.

As much as I usually object when law enforcement screws people over, all I have to say in this instance is: Serves the scumbag right.

In the medical transport vehicle, Wash and Zoe are enjoying the rush until, with dread creeping into his voice, Mal wonders where the siblings and Jayne are.

At a police station, Simon tries to comfort Jayne by saying, if the officers hadn’t been armed, Jayne would likely have been able to wipe the floor with them. Jayne doesn’t appreciate having to deal with the guilt of being comforted by the person who he tried to sell out, especially since he also tried to sell out the person in question’s beloved sister. He orders Simon to shut up.

River babbles some more about Jayne’s betrayal, and he orders Simon to shut her up. She continues, and he directly threatens her. This causes her to smile knowingly at him.

Meanwhile, Mal, Zoe, and Wash realise something has definitely gone wrong. They call Kaylee, and listening into radio transmissions, she relays a weird message about ducks. Down below, the trio realises the Tams plus Jayne have been taken.

Back at the station, Simon continues to show how he’s more of a man than Jayne will ever be by calmly, politely, and unflinchingly refusing to be bullied. He gets one of the officers to explain what will happen to them: They’re being transferred to a holding facility.

Next, Simon and Jayne manage to take out the guards escorting the three of them.

Over to the crew, Mal and Zoe re-infiltrate the hospital with Kaylee and Wash talking to them via radio.

Then, a law enforcement vehicle approaches the hospital.

After subduing/killing their escorts, Jayne unlocks the siblings, and the three leave. However, Jayne and Simon argue about which way is the better escape route. River freaks out about the men in blue gloves having arrived.

Sure enough, they have, and upon learning the Tams where spoken to, they kill the officers with a high-pitched device.

Hearing the screams, the trio end up going Simon’s way.

Meanwhile, Blue Gloves come across the escorts. The one Simon took out is alive but not for long.

As the three run, there’s a cool image of the white-dressed Tams running with the blue-dressed, gun-toting Jayne running after them. They get to a door, and Jayne tries to blast it open. When this doesn’t work, he tries beating it open.

Someone fires from outside, and the door opens to reveal Mal and Zoe.

Everyone is gone by the time Blue Gloves get there.

On the ship, Inara has returned. She asks what happened during her time away away.

“Well, let’s see,” Kaylee cheerfully exposits, “we killed Simon and River, stole a bunch of medicine, and now, the cap. and Zoe are off springing the others, got snatched by the feds.”

The others arrive, and seeing the siblings are alive, Inara opts to trade banter with Mal rather than ask. Jayne declares he’s going with Book next time, and patting his shoulder, Mal says, if he hadn’t come, he wouldn’t be getting his big payday. Before Jayne can figure out if there’s a hint of menace in Mal’s tone or not, Mal adorably pulls Kaylee into a hug before asking if Simon got what he needed.

Simon answers in the affirmative, and when Kaylee expresses curiosity over the bump on Jayne’s head, Simon effusively praises him. Jayne uncomfortably tries to dismiss it with, “Hey, you’re part of my crew.”

Making a sarcastic remark, Mal has everyone but Jayne sent away. Then, he knocks Jayne out.

When Jayne comes to, he’s in an airlock.

Mal confronts him via walk-talkies about trying to sell out the Tams. Jayne tries to protest his innocence, but once he realises the gig is up, he insists, “That ain’t no way for a man to die! You wanna kill me, shoot me! Just let me in!”

Confessing his guilt and apologising, he begs to be let back in. He asks why Mal is taking it so personally since he didn’t rat Mal out.

Rather than pointing out there’s a chance of the Tams giving up information on the crew in an attempt to gain leniency/immunity/what-have-you, Mal simply informs him betraying any of his crew is a betrayal to him. He starts to walk away, and Jayne asks what he’s going to tell the others about him (Jayne) being dead. Mal says he hasn’t figured it out, yet, and Jayne tells him to make something up rather than tell them about his betrayal.

Personally, I’m not too sure Jayne isn’t playing Mal here, but if so, he’s good enough Mal makes the decision to close the ship door.

“Next time you decide to stab me in the back, have the guts to do it to my face,” Mal says.

Admittedly, this is mixed, confusing, and might be missing the point, but it’s still an awesome line.

He leaves, and still locked out, Jayne asks, “Can I come in?” Hee.

Meanwhile, Simon goes to see River. Seeing the needle he’s carrying, she resignedly says, “Time to go to sleep, again.”

“No, mei-mei,” he softly answers. Taking her hand, he says, “It’s time to wake up.” Aw.

Fin.


End file.
